


A Comprehensive Guide to Living Without You

by gaylinda_of_the_upper_uplands



Series: All The Things We Never Said [2]
Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: F/F, Mild Language, meltdowns, mild homophobia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-23
Packaged: 2020-07-08 08:55:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19866904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gaylinda_of_the_upper_uplands/pseuds/gaylinda_of_the_upper_uplands
Summary: “Catherine, Catherine, Katherine, Anne and Anna.”“And how do we all know each other?” There was a moment of silence as the queens all looked to each other in panic.“We work together. We’re singers.” Jane seemed satisfied enough with this response, and nodded her head.“And where is Edward?”“He lives in France now.” The queens thanked the lord for Anne’s quick thinking. “You’ll be able to write to him.”“And Henry?”“Dead,” Parr said, voice low and harsh, “He’s dead.”





	1. Chapter 1

It was two in the morning and Parr was still awake, pacing the living room, waiting. Katherine lay asleep on the couch, having passed out a couple of hours ago. Catherine wasn’t strong enough to move her, so just covered her in a blanket. Jane had said she would be back by nine. She’d gone out to the shops for some quote on quote ‘necessities.’ Parr stayed up for her, anticipating her return. They had planned to go stargazing tonight, an idea of Parr’s she’d wanted to do for ages. Now, as she stood in the dimly lit room, she only wanted Jane to come home.

“Cathy, sweetheart, I think you should try to get some sleep.” Aragon’s voice broke the heavy silence of the room and she quietly walked over to her goddaughter, careful to avoid waking the youngest queen. “I’m sure she’ll be back soon.”

“She’s five hours late!” Catherine shouted, pushing her godmother away, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she finally snapped. At this, Katherine started awake, sitting up on the couch.

“Is Mum not back yet?” She frowned, stretching before standing up.

“No, kid. She’s not.” Parr’s voice was quiet, her face red. Aragon put an arm around her, stroking her upper arm soothingly.

“She’ll be okay. It’s Jane. She always is.” Katherine nodded slightly, picking up her blanket and moving over to join the other queens in a hug. Their moment was interrupted by a loud knock on the door.

“Mum!” Katherine jumped, racing over to the door, both Catherines close behind her. She heaved it open, only to be faced with two police officers. The smile immediately dropped from her face as she stumbled a few steps back, Parr steadying her.

“Is this the residence of Miss Jane Seymour?” The female officer asked, as Aragon showed them inside.

“Yes.” Her voice was full of trepidation. They all stood in the entrance hall, Katherine holding onto one of Cathy’s hands tightly, Aragon squeezing her other one.

“We regret to inform you that she has been involved in a car accident. She’s currently in hospital; critical condition.” It took all of two seconds for Parr to fall to the floor in a dead faint.

\------

The five queens immediately got in a taxi to go to the hospital, Cathy and Katherine clutching onto each other in the back seat, the elder still feeling rather nauseous. Anne rubbed Katherine’s back soothingly, muttering quiet reassurances. They arrived after a while, all dashing out of the car and to the front desk of the emergency room.

“Jane Seymour, please,” Anne said, clutching Kat’s hand.

“Direct family members only to begin with.” The others were directed to the waiting area as Parr and Katherine were immediately led to her room, the doctor talking rapidly about Jane’s condition.

“No longer critical, though we will be keeping an eye on her. There is a possibility of brain damage, but we will have to wait and see. We don’t know when she’ll wake up.” Catherine tried to stay strong for Kat, but her resolve immediately broke as she saw Jane, laying still and pale on the hospital bed, hooked up to far too many machines. Seeing the women’s tears, the doctor continued. “You’re welcome to stay here. She’s relatively stable right now so there should be no issues. It’s just a waiting game from here.” Katherine nodded in response, moving over to Jane’s side and holding her hand. The doctor left the room quietly as Catherine thanked her.

“She’ll be alright, won’t she, Mama?” Katherine looked up at Parr with hopeful eyes. Catherine didn’t have the heart to tell her no.

“You’re Mum’s tough, kid. She’ll be okay.” Catherine settled on Jane’s other side, prepared for a long wait.

\-----

Katherine had fallen asleep quickly, having wiggled into her Mum’s arms. The dead weight of them did little to comfort her, yet she buried her face in Jane’s shoulder and pretended like it was real. Catherine had watched over both of them for a while, before the ache in her heart got too much and she couldn’t take it any longer. She went to go talk to the others who were still waiting outside, all dressed in pyjamas.

Anne lay asleep, head on Catherine’s lap, face stained with tears. Aragon was gently stoking her hair, something quite possibly beginning as a comforting gesture for Anne and eventually turning into a calming mechanism for herself. Cleves was listening to music, eyes vacant as she leant her head on Aragon’s shoulder.

Parr approached them slowly, not at all wanting to talk about what happened. Catherine spotted her first, immediately nudging Anne and Anna. They all stood up, pulling Parr in for a hug as she began to cry again.

“They said there’s a possibility of brain damage, but they don’t know yet. She’s in a coma right now.” Aragon rubbed her back soothingly, unsure of what to say. “You can come see her if you want.” They all crowded into the room, coming across a scene that was eerily different to what they were expecting. Jane looked practically normal, now only a couple machines hocked up to her, face flush and seemingly full of life. There was only one sign of her unconscious state-the lack of a smile on her face as she ‘held’ Katherine in her arms. In silence, the queens settled around the room, prepared to wait a long, long time.

\-----

It had been a week. A week too long for Catherine, who felt she was beginning to lose her mind. The others had been coming and going for visits, still performing every night with the exception of Parr, who remained by Jane’s side. Katherine herself only had a couple shows off before her mother insisted she began a routine again, not wanting the girl to be confined to a miserable hospital room for too long. Parr sat alone at Jane’s side, committed to only leave when Jane did.

“I don’t think I’ve ever really been able to tell you how much I love you.” Catherine’s voice was low, tears already forming in her eyes. “I’d wanted to tell you that night, you know? I was so anxious. And now even more so.” She gave a weak, humourless chuckle before her tone got more serious. “You have to come back, Jane. I don’t know how to live without you.” Catherine took Jane’s left hand in her own, pulling out the box she had kept in her pocket that night. “I need you, Jane. Kat needs you; she’s lost now. There’s only so much I can do alone. We were supposed to be a team forever. Together forever.” Tears ran down her face as her voice wobbled, shaking with the emotional exertion. “And if we never get to do this together, I want you to at least know I tried. I was ready, Jane.” She pulled the ring out of the box. A plain silver band with a simple diamond, how Jane had always told her she wanted it. “I know you were ready.” Her laugh was genuine this time, thinking of all the hints her girlfriend had left for her the past few months. “I planned it all. We were going to be staring up at the stars. Like the first time we said ‘I love you.’ It was going to be perfect.” She wiped away her tears with her hand. “You’re perfect, Jane,” she whispered, slipping the ring onto Jane’s finger. “Marry me, Jane.”


	2. Chapter 2

“Mama!” Katherine shouted from inside Jane’s room. Catherine, who had been talking to a nurse outside, immediately excused herself and ran into the room, to where her daughter was jumping up and down with excitement. “Mum’s waking up!” Sure enough, Jane’s fingers were moving, her eyes twitching as she started to open them.

After a couple minutes of silence, both queens holding their breath, Jane’s eyes finally flickered open. Understandably, she looked around in confusion, eyes squinting at the bright lights in the room.

“Jane.” Catherine’s voice was barely a whisper, but Jane’s head snapped to her, staring at her in the eyes, making Parr shy away. Katherine, having not noticed this interaction, rushed over to the side of the bed, leaning down to give Jane a hug. The blonde queen remained silent, hugging the girl loosely before pulling away, leaning back on the bed.

“How do you feel?” Katherine asked, talking one of Jane’s hands in her own. Parr stayed still at the foot of the bed, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable.

“Tired,” Jane responded, voice hoarse from disuse.

“Mama? Can you go get the doctor?” Katherine asked, looking between her two parents.

“Are you not a bit young to be a mother to a lady?” Katherine’s jaw dropped at this, as Parr’s eyes immediately filled with tears. There was no harshness in Jane’s voice, only curiosity. Which made the whole thing even worse. “I apologise, should I not have said that?” Jane’s words stung the queens, as they both cried for the woman they now knew they lost.

“I’ll be right back,” Parr said quickly, voice cracking. She practically ran out of the room in her haste.

“Will she be alright? She looked awfully upset.” Jane asked Katherine.

“She’ll be okay.”

“May I ask you where I am?”

“The hospital. You were in an accident.” Katherine spoke quietly, still processing what had happened.

“Oh. What kind of accident?”

“Car.”

“Pardon me?’ Katherine didn’t know how to respond to this, and simply stood in silence until Parr returned. The doctor followed close behind, and immediately began talking to Jane.

“How are you, Miss Seymour?” Jane looked somewhat confused, but answered regardless.

“I am well, thank you for asking.”

“That’s good. Could you please describe the last thing you remember?” Jane furrowed her eyebrows as she thought. “I was just setting Edward down to sleep.” Parr took a deep, shaky breath in at this. Sensing her inability to continue much longer, Katherine pulled the doctor aside, while Jane continued to observe Parr.

“Edward was my little brother. He died years ago.” Katherine tried not to be too specific in her explanation.

“It appears she has retrograde amnesia.” Katherine was saddened by this news, even though she had expected it. “It’s most likely she will regain her memories,” she said at the look on Katherine’s face, “Though there’s a chance she won’t. I’ll get the paperwork for you to sign out.” The doctor turned and left quickly, leaving Katherine standing alone in the empty hallway.

\-----

The queens gathered in the kitchen as Jane lay asleep on the couch, frantically whispering about what the next step was.

“How do we tell her she knows us? We look completely different now!”

“She’s already so confused about all this new technology. All we could say was that she’d been out for a long time.”

“I’m almost glad she hasn’t asked to meet the rest of us yet. What would we say our names are?”

“Keep everything the same, except the reincarnation stuff. She doesn’t need to know that, it’ll only confuse her more. And don’t mention Boleyn and Aragon, she’ll recognise you then. The rest of our names should be fine.”

“What about the show?”

“Screw that. What happens when she realises she’s literally in a different body?!”

“She looks close enough to when she was alive, though. We’ll just say she’s been out for a while.”

Taking a deep breath, they all entered the room where Jane now sat awake, staring at the blank TV screen.

“Would you mind introducing yourselves, please? I am afraid I cannot remember all of your names.” Jane’s accent seemed affected, how she was before the reincarnation.

“Catherine, Catherine, Katherine, Anne and Anna.” The blonde queen looked rather confused at the response, but nodded her head regardless.

“And how do we all know each other?” There was a moment of silence as the queens all looked to each other in panic.

“We work together. We’re singers.” Jane seemed satisfied enough with this response, and nodded her head.

“And where is Edward?” At this, the queens looked down at the floor, racking their brains for a possible explanation that wouldn’t have Jane so upset.

“He lives in France now.” The queens thanked the lord for Anne’s quick thinking. “You’ll be able to write to him.” They could only hope Jane’s amnesia sorted itself out soon. This lie would be one difficult to keep up.

“And Henry?”

“Dead,” Parr said, voice low and harsh, “He’s dead.” Jane looked shocked, tears welling up in her eyes.

“Oh.”

“I think that’s enough for today,” Aragon glared at her goddaughter. “Time for bed,” she declared, shooing the others out of the room and helping Jane to her bedroom. She hadn’t slept in there for a long time, and it was relatively empty. “I’ll go get some of your clothes.” She left for Catherine’s room quickly, leaving Jane to sit alone on her bed.

“Cathy? I need to get some of Jane’s stuff.” There was no response as she knocked on the door. She opened it regardless, sighing at the mess Catherine had made in her room. All of the surfaces were clear, everything now on the floor, and several new dents in the wall signified a recent meltdown. The girl sat on her bed, rocking as her body shook from adrenaline. “She’ll be alright, Cathy. It’s Jane. She’ll get better.” Catherine made her way over to her goddaughter, sitting on the edge of the bed and holding onto her hand. “Everything will be alright.” Catherine let out a high pitched squealing noise, hitting her legs and head with her hands. Aragon immediately reached out to hold onto her wrists. “Breathe, sweetheart. You need to breathe.” Parr was choking on her tears, legs thrashing in her attempts to get away from Aragon. The Spanish queen moved behind Catherine, wrapping her arms around her in a strong grip. The younger queen fell limp against her, save for the shaky breaths she was taking. A knock on the door broke the moment. Jane entered the room quietly, shutting the door behind her.

“Oh my lord,” she whispered at the mess on the floor, “Is it always this messy in here?” Parr groaned, turning around in Aragon’s arms and laying on her shoulder.

“Catherine’s been struggling a bit lately,” Aragon answered as vaguely as possible. The woman in her arms moved again, this time pushing her away. She sat upright, still crying, fingers stimming rapidly as she rocked backwards and forwards. Jane gasped at what she was seeing, clearly confused.

“What on Earth is wrong with her?” She hadn’t meant it rudely, but Parr gave another squeal, hitting her hands over her eyes. Aragon quickly moved to hold her arms again, not wanting her to get hurt.

“Nothing. Your clothes are in the left half of the chest of drawers. Take what you need.” Jane gave her a questioning look at this, but opened the drawers and took a couple changes of clothes, clearly unsure of what she should be wearing. She left the room quickly, throwing one more look at the two queens on the bed as she left.


	3. Chapter 3

“Why is my ring different? Where is the one Henry gave me?” There was silence at the breakfast table, no-one knowing how to respond. The mention of Henry caused both the cousins to tense up, while Aragon and Cleves now fixated their eyes on the sparkling ring on Jane’s hand. They hadn’t even noticed it, and immediately turned their heads to Parr in shock. She looked down at her uneaten breakfast, tears dripping fast onto the placemat. “Catherine?” Jane asked, confused about what the woman had to do with it.

“Excuse me,” she whispered, standing up from the table and immediately heading to her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

“She seems to have quite a temper, that one.” The queens remained silent at this, unsure of what to say to this unknown Jane. A loud banging from Catherine’s room indicated she had heard the comment.

“I’ll go check on her,” Aragon said, excusing herself from the table. Katherine left too, without saying a word, saddened to see her mothers acting this way. Only Anne and Anna remained, and cleared the plates once they had hurriedly finished. Jane sat alone for quite some time, unsure of what she was supposed to do. The room was empty, so she simply waited. Eventually, Katherine walked back into the room, earphones and iPod in her hand.

“Hey, Mu-” She stopped suddenly, kicking herself. “Jane. I’m just going out for a run. Just so you know. Yeah.” She blushed red, quickly leaving the house. Jane felt guilt at her encounter with the girl. She knew she was called ‘Mum’ by the teen, though no idea how, as she was still quite young herself. All Jane knew was when she looked at the teen, she felt nothing. No connection, no maternal feelings. If anything, she felt uncomfortable around her. It wasn’t something she could help while being surrounded by these women. There was something off about them. What that was, she couldn’t quite determine.

\-----

Anne and Aragon lay on the couch, the younger queen absorbed in the TV show they were watching, Catherine lost in thought about their future. It wasn’t just Jane they had lost from this accident, but her family too. Katherine had been too quiet recently, only coming out of her room for shows. Parr’s meltdowns were becoming more frequent, at least one a day but usually more, since the accident. She’d been less verbal, too, concerning the rest of the queens. And she had proposed. Well, kind of, Catherine supposed. But how heartbreaking would that have been for her goddaughter? Aragon hadn’t even noticed her tears until Anne paused the show to talk to her.

“Catherine? What’s wrong?” Aragon couldn’t voice her thoughts, instead, the tears just flowed quicker down her face. Anne sat upright, clutching her hands and looking into her eyes as her breaths came more rapidly. “Breathe, hun. I need you to breathe for me.” Anne gave her a kiss on the cheek as Aragon began to come back into control of her own body again. The tears were silent, not the loud sobs she usually exhibited when she was upset. “I know you’re worried, Catalina, but I’ll be here the whole time, okay? We’ll get through this together. Everyone will be okay.” Anne didn’t seem fully convinced of her words, but it was enough to snap Catherine out of her spiralling thoughts.

“You’re right,” she sniffled, wiping her eyes with her sleeve, “I love you, Anne.” There was a loud crash from the kitchen, causing the both of them to jump. The lack of exclamation as worrying, so they both rushed to see who it was. Jane stood in the middle of the kitchen, glass shattered in front of her on the floor, water pooling where she had dropped it. She looked to the queens in the doorway in shock, eyes wide.

“Jane, are you okay?” The blonde queen seemed stunned for a moment as Anne stepped closer to her.

“Stay back!” She shouted at her, “Get away from me!” She looked crazed, and the others had no choice but to listen to her, not wanting to freak her out even more. They slowly backed into the lounge room, leaving Jane to hurry past them and back to her room, panicked tears running down her face.

“What the hell just happened?” Anne pondered, a small frown on her face.

“She must have heard us,” Catherine replied, looking over to Anne, who’s eyebrows were raised in confusion.

“So?” Catherine rolled her eyes at the question.

“This isn’t our Jane, Anne. She thinks she’s in the sixteenth century. And literally this entire house is gay!” There was a soft ‘oh’ from Anne, before a loud proclamation.

“Fuck.”


	4. Chapter 4

“Jane? We’re leaving for work now. We’ll be back in a few hours, okay?” Anna called from the hallway outside Jane’s door, aware of what she had seen earlier and how she was likely feeling right now. Jane didn’t respond, still laying on her bed. A moment later, the front door shut, all the five women having left the house. At this she sat up. Time to do a little exploration. She made her way to the living room, figuring if there was a good place to start, it was there. There were a lot of portrait-like images in frames on the walls that she hadn’t properly seen earlier, having only briefly passed through the room.

There was an abundance of Katherine, she noted. Parr didn’t appear to be in many, but there was a lot of the other five together. She also noticed the lack of Anne and Catherine ones, which confused her. She didn’t understand fully what had transpired between them earlier. All she knew was that it if it was what she thought, then it was one of the biggest sins imaginable. But no-one seemed to care. Perhaps this vastly different time she had woken in was more accepting. She still didn’t know her stance on it, though. She supposed she would have to rethink a lot of things. She eventually found a bookshelf, full of books with more of the strange, realistic portraits in them. She opened one which read “France 2020 trip,” in handwriting similar to her own. Her jaw dropped in absolute shock. She began to flick through it rapidly, searching for answers.

And then, a picture of her and Parr, kissing in a park. She nearly dropped the book at this. In strangely familiar handwriting she was sure she’d seen before, the caption read ‘the day after they said ‘I love you’’, with little hearts drawn all around it. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at the image in shock. She traced over the inked message next to it, when the familiarity hit her. Anne. Her lady’s writing. Her mind seemed to explode as the names linked together. Catherine. Anne. Herself. Katherine Howard- she knew the girl’s last name after Anne had called her by it, the teen having stolen a choker from her. The Howards were related to her, so were the Boleyns. The choker. Anne had been beheaded, but her handwriting was right there. Parr- Catherine of Aragon’s goddaughter had been a Parr, daughter of one of their ladies-in-waiting, and that would certainly explain the protective way she acted around her. This time, the book fell the floor with a loud thump. Jane felt lightheaded, and went straight back to her bedroom, locking the door behind her. 

And then she looked back down at her hands, at the ring on her finger which most definitely didn’t belong to her. With shaking hands, she removed it, holding it in her palm for a moment, staring at it as if hoping her memories would come back. She felt nothing. With a quiet sigh, she left her room and opened the door the Catherine’s, setting the ring on the bedside table. She couldn’t pretend everything was fine any longer. Her knees buckled and she fell onto the messy bed. Henry. He was dead. And her poor, darling Edward. Jane could only imagine what happened to him. And when did she die? That was the biggest question. She began to shake, tears rushing down her face at the realisations. All of a sudden, fatigue hit her as she struggled to keep her eyes open. She laid down on the bed, closing her eyes and falling into a fitful sleep.

\-----

Catherine opened the door to her room, entirely shocked to see Jane laying on her bed. When she saw the ring on the bedside table, her heart dropped. Tears already stinging her eyes, she quickly placed it back in its box, putting it inside the dresser.

“Jane,” she whispered, shaking the woman slightly to wake her. Jane’s eyes opened, and she sat up straight away upon realising where she was. She looked to Catherine, her eyes immediately widening when she saw the woman was only wearing a sports bra and shorts. “Do you want to go back to your room?” Jane nodded immediately, face flushing bright red as she noticed herself staring. She quickly made her way to her own room, shutting the door and leaning against it, taking deep breaths. She was already confused enough as it was, with the whole losing her memories thing, but finding out she was dead and about to marry a woman had really messed her up. She took a few more shaky breaths before collapsing on her bed, tears flowing down her cheeks as she fell into a deep sleep.

\-----

Jane tossed and turned in her sleep, tears now dried on her face. She was remembering.

Her and Catherine. Naked together in a shower, hands sliding all over each other, soft lips pressing hot kisses to flushed skin. Her hugging Anne as she cried about some relationship problem she was having, the proud feeling in her heart as the woman opened up to her. Sitting with Anna by the fireplace, chatting as they did continued some needlework, an unlikely friendship they formed over their shared love of crafts. Aragon cooking dinner with her, both of them dancing around the kitchen and singing at the top of their lungs. And Katherine, sweet, young Katherine, sobbing as she came out to her, and the sheer relief in her eyes as Jane assured her she’d love her no matter what. And all six of them together, on stage, singing about how they were now united, as one.

Jane bolted upright, head swirling with all of her memories, heart wrenching as it felt a hundred different emotions at once. She stood up immediately, gently opening the door to her room and tiptoeing down the hall to Catherine’s room, slipping quietly inside. The queen was asleep, but woke as the door creaked shut.

“Jane? What are you doing here?” She sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes.

“I remember.” Catherine slowly moved her hands away from her face, looking up at the queen.

“You remember,” She repeated softly.

“Everything.”

“You remember!” Catherine jumped out of bed, Jane immediately pulling her in for a kiss. They pulled away quickly, tears now running down Catherine’s face.

“I’m so sorry about the ring.” Jane’s voice was quiet now, aware that what she had done in her past state would have undoubtedly hurt her love. Parr moved over to the dresser and opening a drawer, pulling out the small black box. “I remember your speech, Cathy,” she said through her tears. “I love you.”

“Marry me?” Jane nodded her head, hand shaking as Parr slipped on the ring. She kissed Catherine, tangling her hands in the thick, curly locks of her hair.

“I love you, Cathy. I love you so much.” Parr smiled into the kiss on Jane pushed her down onto the bed, already unbuttoning her shirt.

“I missed you so much, Jane. I love you.”


End file.
